MCL 769.1k(1)(b)(iii) lets Michigan trial courts fund their own operations — salaries, building costs, supplies — by taxing the people convicted in front of them. That means the more people a court convicts, and the more it charges each of them, the better funded that court is. Judges have told our attorneys directly that waiving fines would make their courts "financially implode." It is, in plain terms, a system that pays courts to convict.

We've challenged this statute three times, alongside a growing coalition (Detroit Justice Center, ACLU of Michigan, Michigan State Planning Body, Legal Services Association of Michigan, and — as of 2026 — Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan): People v Johnson, People v Edwards, and People v Ormsbee. Each time, we've argued the same two things: the law unconstitutionally hands a legislative power (taxation) to judges, and it creates exactly the kind of financial incentive to convict that due process is supposed to prevent.

Michigan's courts have not yet ruled on the merits. Johnson and Edwards were both denied leave to appeal in 2023 — three justices wrote separately to flag the problem, but the law stayed in place. Ormsbee is pending as of 2026. We're not done raising it.